Teachers of very young children have the awesome task of providing rich information and experiences that build skills and understanding in the context of every day routines and within intentionally-designed play opportunities that capture children's interests, wonder and curiosity so they want to know more. Pennsylvania's learning standards join…

Teachers of very young children have the awesome task of providing rich information and experiences that build skills and understanding in the context of every day routines "and" within intentionally-designed play opportunities that capture children's interests, wonder and curiosity so they want to know more. Pennsylvania's learning…

Teachers of very young children have the awesome task of providing rich information and experiences that build skills and understanding in the context of every day routines and within intentionally-designed play opportunities that capture children's interests, wonder and curiosity so they want to know more. Pennsylvania's learning standards join…

Suggests activities that are intended to help children understand and become more familiar with the legends and myths that are read to them. Argues that the study of classical myths and legends should be part of the English curriculum. (HOD)

Challenges the thinking about planning activities for children around holidays in Head Start programs. Discusses the role of holidays as family events and the difficulties surrounding teaching preschoolers the meaning of holidays. Suggests ways to use holidays as an opportunity to truly expand children's knowledge using child development…

Reports findings of a survey in which approximately 800 fifth and sixth grade students chose their favorite children's "classics." (FL)

Describes how implementing a free activities period at the beginning of the regular class day can encourage creative, independent art projects; development of positive self-attitudes; and reading and writing behaviors and can lower rebellious classroom behavior by providing students with some measure of classroom control. (CRH)

Identifying games as being common to children worldwide, Sunal focuses on Nigerian group games in order to illustrate the range of game variations and their use in a social studies program. Describes hiding games, singing games, and a fine-motor skills game, stating that they help acquaint students with foreign cultures and reveal similarities in…

Suggests that reluctant learners can be motivated to read and write if the teacher writes a story in which the student is the hero. Notes that students may be persuaded to write their own stories with themselves as heroes and share them with friends. (JC)

Describes a unique exchange program between Mexico and California in which poets go to the foreign country to teach poetry writing, with local poets, to elementary school children. Provides samples of exercises in poetry writing and excerpts of children's poetry, translated from Spanish into English. (KEH)

Maintains that one of the most difficult aspects of early childhood teaching is to set aside preconceptions and really pay attention to what children are doing. Maintains that music specialists who go into the early childhood room only at music time should seek other opportunities to observe students. (CFR)

Designed to help teachers provide high-interest independent work for their first grade students, this manual contains plans to increase students' reading, spelling, and speaking vocabularies by using original poetry. After a short introduction, the first section describes bulletin board plans that can be adapted for use throughout the year and…

Details events from the experiences of two young children as they learned written language. Concludes that children need to have a say in why and what they are reading. (FL)

Often regarding the "great books" as too difficult for elementary school age children to comprehend, teachers have given students reading assignments that are less than challenging and have risked causing them to dislike reading because it is relatively uninteresting. However, it is possible to expose very young children to works such as…

Intended for speech teachers and classroom teachers who work with elementary school children, this guide focuses on the sequential development of oral language skills and related skills. Following an introduction is a brief orientation lesson guide designed to interest children in the speech program and introduce the basic forms of communication.…